Secrets in Battle: Secrets of Savannah Series Book 3 (16 page)

Chapter 30

Since the night Judd told me about the mission that led to his injury, we have been inseparable. Well, whenever we aren’t working, that is. Which here lately we’ve both been working a lot. He’s been crazy busy with calves being born,
and I’ve been wrapped up at the hospital and working with Nana.

With Ryder and Scarlet getting back a few days ago, we’ve been staying in the apartment more.
It’s like I have to have him to sleep and he’s the same. It feels kinda weird since I’m a house guest there to have someone staying with me. Plus, no one, and I mean no one, wants to accidently witness those two.

The stories Scar shared with me from her honeymoon make me blush. It’s funny to think about the fact that just over a year ago
, my friend was a virgin. She met Ryder and went coo coo crazy for him. I went to school with Ryder and in the past year I’ve learned more about him than in our entire past. Like he’s pierced, I could have gone my entire life without knowing that. Scarlet tells me about the amazing orgasms it brings on. To be honest, though, I’m glad Judd isn’t. He’s so damn big that if he added anything metal, it may puncture my womb.

I’m on my way to Nana’s now for one of our sessions. Her stories always crack me up, but today I need to talk with her about Judd. I need to tell someone that he’s told me everything.

I don’t want to tell Scarlet and Ryder because that feels like gossiping. With Nana it doesn’t feel like gossip, it feels like asking for wisdom.

Pulling up to her house on the ranger, she’s sitting on the back porch smoking those damn Pall Malls.

“Hey, old lady, you ready to get started for today?”

She laughs. “I might be old but it’s better than the alternative.”

I laugh and nod
.
“True. True.”

She gets up and we go in the house. She hands me a couple of stacks of journals. “These are the latest ones I’ve been through. I ear marked some pages.”

I flip through the books. “Thanks, this makes it super easy.”

She sits down in her recliner. “So
, baby, what’s on your mind? You have that scrunched up look on your face that says you have something on that brain of yours.”

I sit down on the couch across from her.
I start wringing my hands together. “Judd’s friend, Mack, stopped by the other day. They spent some time together for the afternoon. Mack is in a wheelchair, he was with Judd the day he was injured.”

Nana’s face frowns and I know she’s thinking about the day that we got that call. “So, was his friend okay?”

I nod and sigh. “Yes, ma’am. It actually did Judd some good to see him. I didn’t realize that he’d been avoiding those guys. He told me what happened that day. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like a weight hast been lifted between us.”

She looks around the room, trying to not get upset. “I’m so glad he finally talked to you. I knew he’d tell you when he was ready. I was beginning to worry if he’d ever be ready.” She reaches over and squeezes my hand. “You’re good for him.”

I smile. “Thanks.”

She lets her hand fall in her lap. “Alright, let’s get to work.”

I laugh and pull out my laptop. I get the file open I’ve been working in and look to Nana for her to start.

She laughs and starts her story.

“You know Ryder gets his personality from his grandfather. Grayton was always that ‘bad boy with a heart of gold’. I remember the day he came to school on a motorcycle for the first time. I had just turned 15 earlier that month. It was April of 1949. Just watching him pull into school on that motorcycle did all kinds of things to my girl parts that, at the time, I didn’t understand. He was a couple of years older than me and even though we’d know each other my entire life, I was pretty sure he thought I was just a pain in the ass.”

She stops and smiles
, shaking her head in a memory. “But that day he asked me if I wanted a ride home.”

She looks back at me serious
ly. “Now, I wanted to say yes. I felt dumber than dirt for not saying yes, but if my daddy would’ve found out I was riding on his motorcycle, he’d have tanned my hide. Plus, if I’d have pulled up in the yard with my dress clad legs wrapped around him on a motorcycle, my momma would have fainted.” 

She smiles again. “Don’t get me wrong
, he wasn’t all sweet and innocent.  Like I said, everyone liked Grayton, but he had a little rebel side to him. He could be a cocky bastard, though. He had every girl in the damn school chasing his cute Levi covered ass, but I just wanted him to be mine one day. I could see Grayton growing up to be like Humphrey Bogart, all classy, but with Southern Sweetness.”

Looking over at Nana
, she’s lost in her thoughts. “Nana, I’m gonna go grab a glass of sweet tea, you want some?”

“I made some fresh lemonade. I’d like a glass of that.”

I grab our glasses and come back to the living room with her. “Here you go. So how did you and Grayton finally hook up?”

She laughs. “Well, I wouldn’t call it hooking up.”

She sits her glass of lemonade down and starts back talking.

“Well, that same year
, summer had just started. I had went with Momma and Daddy to Atlanta for some cattle conference. I had saved up all my money from odd chores and babysitting. I took that money and snuck off to buy my first bikini. Now, it would be considered nothing by today’s standards, but back in them days...” She shakes her head. “My daddy would have never let me leave the house again. So I waited until we got back home. I was shy about going in front of my friends in it. I was ballsy, but I wasn’t that ballsy. So I snuck off to the spring behind our house one day.  Our property joined this property behind there. There I was, swimming and having a good old time by myself in my bikini, when someone dove in the water with me. I screamed. It scared me more than a holiness preacher layin’ hands at a tent revival. A sandy blonde head popped up out of the water. It was Grayton. He swam over to me and said, ‘Did I scare you, Pearlie Mae?’ I looked at him and called him an ass. He smirked and swam closer to me. With the water being crystal clear, I knew he could see the blue striped bikini I was wearing. He grinned. ‘Nice swimsuit. Your Daddy know you got that on?’ I smirked back at him. ‘No, you gonna tell ‘em?’  He laughed and said. ‘No, I like the way it looks too much to do that.’ He gave me a wicked grin and pulled me in for a kiss. That was my first kiss.”

“After that day, we snuck off to that spring every chance we got.” Her eyes glaze over thinking of the fond memories. “Eventually we had to tell my daddy that we were courting. To start with he wasn’t happy, but Grayton, as stubborn as he was, never gave him the chance to think it could go any other way. Daddy finally came along, he said he always knew Grayton would take care of me until the day he died. Now all of the property is one big place. That spring is on the west forty. I ain’t been back there since Grayton passed away.”

My phone starts ringing and I see it
’s Naomi.

“Hello.”

“Annabelle.” She sounds out of breath. “Can you come up to the main house? Nelson’s passed out.”

I jump up from my chair. “I’ll be right there.” She hangs up and I shove my phone in my pocket.

Nana jumps up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nelson passed out.”

She puts her hand on her chest. “Oh Lord. Let’s go.”

We both make our way out her back door and take off on the
Ranger.

Chapter
31

I look up and see the
Ranger, with Princess driving and Nana in the passenger side, flying up to the main house. She jumps out of the UTV and comes up on the porch where we have dad sitting.

She pulls her hair up in a loose bun. “Nelson, what’s going on?”

The sweat beading off his forehead and the paleness of his lips is scary. He won’t answer her. He’s just shaking.

She tries for his attention again, getting closer in his face. “Nelson!” She looks to my mom. “Get me his testing kit. I think his sugar is out of balance.
Ryder, grab me some orange juice out of the house.”

Dad finally looks up at her and shivers a little.
“I- I j-just g-got a lil’ light headed. T-that’s all.”

She shakes her head. “Nelson
, this is more than a little lightheaded.” Mom comes back and hands her the kit. She pricks dad’s finger. “Your sugar is very low. Have you eaten today?”

Dad looks at her. “I h
-had s-something s-small th-this m-morning.”

She hands him the
glass of juice that Ryder brought out. “Drink some of this.” She looks at him pointed. “You know you need to eat balanced. Have you been working out here all morning?”

He nods. “Yeah.”

“You need to make sure you snack when you’re out here working. You have to pay attention to your body.” Dad finally starts to get some color back to him and stops shaking.

She looks at mom. “Naomi, I think he needs to go home for the rest of the afternoon.”

Mom nods and hugs her tightly. “Thank you so much, Annabelle. He scared me to death.”

She smiles. “No big deal. He’s just got to remember his limits.
I know it’s a learning curve for him, he’s not used to having to stop, but he’s gotta learn.”

Mom and
Dad leave to go home.  Ryder hugs Annabelle. “Thanks for coming.”

She and I sit beside each other on the swing. “
I knew dad wasn’t feeling well this morning when he came out here to help Ryder and me. He knew we really needed to get this tagging done, so he was determined to stay. Finally, Mom came down here to make us stop for lunch.”

“Y’all are gonna have to watch him a little until he figures all of this out. Diabetes
is an entire new way of life. Not everyone has the same signs and symptoms. Just little things like making sure he stays hydrated and having some things for him to snack on are important.”

I nod. “Yeah, he did a good job of scaring the crap out of us today. I’m sure Ryder and I will be on our toes from now on.”

She smiles at me. “Hey, do you think you can take me somewhere on the Ranger?”

“Yeah, where do you wanna go?” We start walking toward the ranger.

“There is a spring on the west forty. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

I nod. “Yeah. Come on.”

We head out through the pastures. Coming up on the spring, I turn down the little trail that leads to it. Once we get to it, I smile. “I haven’t been down here since Ryder and I were little kids. How did you even know it was here?”

“Nana told me about it today. She and Grayton used to sneak down here and go swimming. This is where she got her first kiss from Grayton
. Well, her first kiss period.”

“Wow. I never knew that. You know this used to be her famil
y’s property?”

“Yeah
, she told me that. You know she hasn’t been here since he passed away.”

I kick some rocks. “Yeah, they were who took Ryder and me down here.
Pa would pick us up and throw us off that rock over there. It was fun.”

She laughs. “I bet
. From the sounds of it, the two of them did more than just kiss and swim down here.”

I put my hands on my ears. “Oh
, don’t say shit like that. Those people are like my grandparents.”

She winks. “Just sayin’. You know it really is a warm day.” She tugs the shirt off that she’s wearing. “Maybe we should go for a swim.”

I try to act coy. “I didn’t bring a pair of swim trunks.”

She winks. “I was thinking we could just skinny dip.”

I tug my shirt off. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

We both strip out of our clothes quickly and jump in the spring. She screeches when she comes up out of the water. “Holy shit
, that’s cold!” Her teeth are chattering.

I swim over to her and pull her into my arms. “What did you think, we had a hot spring back here?
There are a few in Georgia, but it’s not this one.”

She swats at me and I pull her up to me. “No
, smart ass. I just really wasn’t thinking it would be this cold.”

I kiss her neck and nibble at her ear. “I think I know something that might warm you up.”

She giggles. “I’m sure you do.” Wrapping her legs around my waist, I reach down and take one of her nipples in my mouth.

They were already hard
and sensitive from the cold water. I nibble on them she screams out. “Oh god, Judd!”

“Oh
, I’m just getting started.”

I doesn’t take long before we are both calling out with an
orgasm.

I wrap her tighter in my arms. “God
, I love you.”

She buries her head in my neck. “I love you
, too. You’re my everything.”